The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking nominations to fill four producer member and four producer alternate seats for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will appoint individuals to succeed members whose terms expire on Dec. 31, 2018.
The council is composed of 20 industry members including 12 producers, four importers, two foreign exporters, one first handler and one public member. Each member has an alternate.
Nominations for these seats are due to the council by Feb. 26, 2018. The council will hold an election to select nominees for consideration by the Secretary to fill the seats representing U.S. regional producers.
Applications are available at www.blueberry.org, or by contacting Mark Villata, U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council Executive Director at (916) 983-0111 or mvillata@ushbc.org. You may also contact Maureen Pello, USDA Marketing Specialist, at (503) 632-8848 or maureen.pello@ams.usda.gov.
The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council is industry-funded and supports the national marketing and promotion of highbush blueberries. Since 1966, Congress has authorized 22 industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. The Agricultural Marketing Service provides oversight, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal responsibility, program efficiency and fair treatment of participating stakeholders.
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